US urges Pakistan to enact law banning radical groups

The US has urged Pakistan to immediately enact a legislation that formally ban radical religious groups, a media report said on Thursday. The US’ suggestion on Wednesday followed a decision announced last week for ending a ban on Mumbai terror attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) and the Falah-i-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), which Washington designates as terrorist groups, the Dawn report said.

The Pakistani media late last month had reported that the two outfits, that manage a large charity network with the help of thousands of volunteers, temporarily came off the list of banned outfits in Islamabad because the ordinance that proscribed them under a UN resolution had lapsed.

The Imran Khan government is working on a proposal to extend the ban. The development underscores the importance of Pakistan “urgently enacting legislation that formally proscribes” both JuD and FIF, a spokesperson for the US State Department told reporters in Washington on Wednesday. Read More